WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – U.S. President Joe Biden has differed with Saudi Arabia in their account of discussions at a bilateral summit about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a major point of contention between the two countries, Reuters reported.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, known as MBS, ordered Khashoggi’s killing in 2018, a Saudi insider-turned-critic who had been living in self-imposed exile in Virginia. The de facto Saudi ruler denies the claim.
In a press conference, Biden hinted the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia was not being truthful in his account of the U.S. leader’s meeting with the kingdom’s crown prince.
Biden was referring to comments made by Adel al-Jubeir, who told Fox News he did not “hear” the U.S. president tell MBS that he directly blamed him for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi during their discussion in Jeddah on Friday.
“I didn’t hear that particular phrase,” al-Jubeir told Fox News correspondent Alex Hogan in an interview on Saturday.
“The president mentioned that the U.S. is committed to human rights because since the founding fathers wrote the constitution and he also made the point that American presidents – this is part of the agenda of every American president.”
Upon returning to the White House early on Sunday after his four-day Middle East trip, Biden was asked by reporters if al-Jubeir was telling the truth in recounting his exchange with MBS. Biden pointedly replied: “No.”
Meanwhile, independent Senator Bernie Sanders denounced Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, saying the United States should not maintain a “warm relationship” with the kingdom.
Sanders on Sunday said Biden should not have visited the kingdom or met its Crown Prince, who was accused by American intelligence of ordering the assassination of Khashoggi.
When asked in an interview with ABC whether Biden should have visited the country, Sanders replied, “No, I don’t think so.”
“You have a leader of that country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post journalist,” he added. “I don’t think that that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States.”
“I just don’t believe we should be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship like that,” he stated.
A team of Saudi operatives murdered Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018.
Biden, who once called for Saudi Arabia to be made a pariah, visited Saudi Arabia and met with the crown prince.
Sanders also dismissed arguments that Biden visited the kingdom to try to get it to increase oil production and lower American gasoline prices.